Shakespeare's portrayal of love in Sonnets 18 and 116, and in Romeo and Juliet.

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Introduction

Love has changes a lot since Shakespeare's time, these modern times love is a term used very loosely, Now everybody feels that they understand the meaning of love and all of the emotions that are involved init and even people of a young age such as 10 can say that they love a person off there own age. Where as in Shakespeare's time they linked love with things of great importance such as religion. Through out most of his poems and sonnets Shakespeare based most of his ideas on love which has carried through into modern days. Love was a very influential thing in his poets because it was not just love between a man and a women it was all sorts of different love such as a farther son bond which might have influenced him throughout the fair youth series. And love between a man and a woman was included which might have influenced him to write his dark lady series. ...read more.

Middle

The second one of the cycle is the dark lady, this is thought to be the lady that Shakespeare had loved but the love was unrequited meaning his love for her never blossomed. The final one was the rival poet; this was thought to be the part in the cycle where Shakespeare ridiculed other poets and calls himself the best poet of his time. Sonnet 18 is the sonnet that contains one of Shakespeare's most famous quote "shall I compare thee to a summers day" this quote was used right at the beginning as Shakespeare thought that a nice summers day is the most beautiful that he can think of. However on the very second line Shakespeare realises that a summer's day is not good enough by saying "thou art more lovely and more temperate." This indicates how highly he thinks of his muse because he is saying even summer cant compare to her beauty. Throughout the sonnet he goes on to tell the reader about the other imperfections that summer. ...read more.

Conclusion

it is just like a marriage in the respect that if two people are In love then they will love each other for better and for worse; in sickness and in health. This indicates that Shakespeare is trying to say if you claim that you are truly in love with a person then you should be able to get married to them. Also Shakespeare says "love is not love which alter when alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove" this means that Shakespeare feels that a person does not truly love another person if they stop loving a person when they find a change in circumstances, for example in modern days a person can say they have fallen in love with someone when the person is rich and as soon as the money goes they say that they no longer love a person. ?? ?? ?? ?? Candidate name: Dylan Gunda Candidate number: 1037 Centre Number: 20093 Explore how Shakespeare presents the idea of love through an extract of Romeo and Juliet an a selection of sonnets ...read more.

Related GCSE Shakespeare's Sonnets essays

not always used due to the language that was common at the time. In order to comply with the Iambic Pentameter to which he rigorously followed in all his sonnets, he often changed and adapted words. For example, "mayst" from Sonnet 73, which is actually an adaptation of the word may.

Sonnet 116 is about true love and is different from 118 and 130 as it's not about love for a particular person. The first quatrain starts with a statement and Shakespeare doesn't want to get in the way of true love 'marriage of true minds' and he uses words from

he wants to kiss her and touch her with his hands but how he is not worthy: "My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss." Romeo's says that his lips are two blushing pilgrims.

This sonnet also has a meter of iambic pentameter and the topic of this sonnet is also about beauty and love, although this differs from sonnet 18, Shall I Compare Thee... In the beginning William Shakespeare writes that his mistress, a loved one, has not got eyes as bright as the sun nor are her lips as red as coral.

This shows us just how upset he really is. This slows the pace down dragging these words out and creating a depressing atmosphere. He also uses alliteration to sharpen the tone of the sonnet in phrases such as 'want of wit'.

Metaphors are also used in the sonnets. Similarly to the aforementioned point, in sonnet 18, metaphor is used to show love and romantic attraction. It is used to flatter the lover with buttery and flowery description. It is represented when Shakespeare says ?thy eternal summer shall never fade?.

In fact, the poem has a negative tone throughout. ?Time?s bending sickle?s compass? and ?edge of doom? continue the grim tone with images of death first, then ? as if that weren?t enough ? he adds total destruction (?doom?). Love is the only light in this rather bleak view of

The sonnet then goes on to tell us what love is. Although some familiar imagery is used, such as ?rosy lips and cheeks?, Shakespeare also uses a maritime theme, which wasn?t commonly used in sonnets. He using a metaphor, describing love as both a lighthouse and the North Star in